Feedback From The Industry

The deadline for the Black Boots project is coming up very soon on the 30th of this month which means it is time to close in on the digital portfolio. Monday’s one-one-one tutorial with Julia McKim gave me the necessary advice and guidance for the final tasks I have left to complete for this project.

One of the pieces of work I have been set by Julia is to continue designing more sole units but with more extreme features to really exaggerate the chunky aspect of black boot soles. I am using Adobe Illustrator to design these sole units at both side and also back profiles because using a drawing tablet and stylus is a very efficient method to digitally design and visualise your ideas in comparison to drawing on paper with a pencil.

The Prada range of men’s black boots shows that the idea of a pocket or a small bag on a boot is accepted by their consumers and you can even see the general acceptance from the boot wearers on the street so Julia also recommended that I include this idea in some of my designs. Again, I can add designs to my portfolio using Adobe Illustrator to draw shapes and Photoshop to render textures and colours.

During my tutorial, my final range of 6 boot designs only included lace-ups but I was reminded by Julia that a collection is never just one fastening type but instead would include Chelsea boots and other styles. Because of this guidance, I will design Prada-inspired boots for my Zara collection which have alternative fastenings such as straps, zips or elastic gussets which can be seen on Chelsea boots.

Another way to develop and build the collection is to, once again, take a look at WGSN’s ‘Rubber’ trend and take inspiration from it. Incorporation of rubber into my designs could include the use of rubber toe caps or foxing. ‘Outdoor Performance’ is another WGSN 2021 trend which can be looked at to receive inspiration for adding durable straps to the boot designs.

Thank you very much for reading the blog and please feel free to leave any comments and feedback for me to read!